Yakuza, Yokai and Yukos
by ZareEraz
Summary: Nura/xxxHolic. Watanuki, Doumeki, Yuko and Mokona end up falling through worlds and land in Tokyo...only its not their Tokyo! Taken in my the Nura clan until they leave this world, Watanuki and Doumeki both end up going to school with Rikuo and his friends, where they find out that a spirit has been causing trouble at another school. (Excerpt from another story I've written.)


A/N: ZareEraz here! This is the second chapter of my story Mokona's Magical Dimensional Merry-Go-Round in the xxxHolic fandom. It's a collage of crossovers were I take Watanuki, Doumeki, Yuko, and Mokona and basically dump them into various demon/yokai anime series, as a request from devixen85. I wanted to post the individual chapters in their own crossover categories so that other who don't follow the xxxHolic fandom religiously like I do can read them too. Enjoy!

Yakuza, Yokai and Yukos

They fell again, through the vortex of color that existed between worlds, the same (but different, obviously) streams of energy curling around their path as they floated along. Watanuki could actually appreciate the beauty this time – the deep blue of void space, their path ringing by bright lights and ribbons of energy twisting through space-time – resting leisurely and letting Mokona bounce off of her and her companions as it entertained itself.

"This is pretty cool, huh?" Watanuki asked her boyfriend. Doumeki was floating on his back, his hands hooked behind his head.

"Hmm." He replied

"'Hmm' is not a legitimate response. I asked you a question, now answer it." Watanuki grumped.

"It's cool."

"Thank _you_." The seer huffed.

"What's got your panties in a twist?" Yuko asked. Speaking of panties…Doumeki was floating lower and behind Watanuki trying to look up her skirt. Watanuki caught him in the act and clamped her legs shut and in retaliation, spun around and shoved him away from her.

"Pervert!"

"Don't push him too far, he might get lost and we'd hate that, wouldn't we?~" Yuko teased.

"I just want to go home, Yuko." Watanuki replied, answering the witch's previous question.

"You're such a homebody, Watanuki!" Yuko went on, bopping Mokona towards the girl.

"No, I just don't want to get attacked by any other freaky demons. I have a hard enough time dealing with the normal spirits."

"You're going to jinx yourself, Watanuki." Yuko teased, floating over to the girl and poking her cheek.

"Lay off!" The girl snapped. Just then, a bright light emanated in front of the group, growing bigger and brighter with each passing second.

"I think this is our stop." Yuko informed the others.

"Fantastic! Home here we come!" Watanuki cheered.

"No! More fun!~" Mokona cheered in opposition.

"Shut up you fur ball! I don't want any more adventures!" Watanuki protested.

"Well, Mokona does!" The puff ball and the seer continued into their argument as the group was wrapped up in a sphere of energy and exited the time-space pathway.

They fell out of the world between worlds and descended through the light until the dimensional bubble popped and disappeared. In a cruel twist of fate, Yuko, Doumeki and Mokona all landed on solid ground. Watanuki on the other hand, fell right into a pond. She broke the water and got drenched as she sunk to the bottom of the pond, knocking her head on a rock in the process, warm blood running down her cheek and mixing with the water. She tried to cry out in pain as she opened her mouth, but only bubbles escaped. Her head swam as she floated around in blurry pain. She opened her eyes blearily and saw a boy swimming towards her; only he was wearing a full ninja outfit and had a broken, shell sitting on top of his head. He fluidly swam over to her, seeming not to need air, his slit eyes watching her carefully and reached out his hands to her. His webbed hands. _A demon?! Yokai?! Not again!_ Watanuki scrambled back as best she could with only half her vision and a throbbing head and hit the side of the pond. The boy kept coming closer, his hands still out stretched. He reached the flailing girl and put his hands gently on her torso, wrapping his arms around and pulling her up despite her best efforts to get away from him.

Watanuki burst out of the water and screamed, her first breath of air an ear-splitting shriek that nearly shattered all the glass in the area.

"What the hell was that?!" Someone shouted, running towards the pond. Watanuki's vision was blurry as her head wound bled onto her face, covering her eyes. She screamed again and shoved against the hands that deposited her onto the banks, crawling away on hands and knees.

"Watanuki! Watanuki! Calm down!" That was Yuko's voice, faintly filtering into her brain, her head throbbing too loudly to pick up her voice much. There was a commotion and shouting that wasn't the seer's, but it all swirled together in a continuous roar. Watanuki's hand got caught on something and in her haste, she tripped over herself and collapsed on the ground. She couldn't see, couldn't orient herself and nothing made sense. She was having a mini panic attack when a familiar voice called out to her.

"Watanuki. Watanuki." A warm hand clasped her own, a strong arm bundling her into a solid chest.

"Doumeki?" She asked quietly.

"Yeah. It's okay. Everything's fine." He soothed, stroking her hair and then wiping her eyes, trying to clean up some of the blood. She'd lost her glasses somewhere, but when she opened her eyes, Doumeki was close enough that she could see him clearly.

"You sure?" She asked, still startled by the water-boy she'd seen in the pond.

"Yeah. Everything's okay. You just over-reacted." Watanuki scoffed.

"You didn't get dumped into a pond and attacked by a fish-boy." She grumbled moodily, blinking the spots out of her eyes.

"True, but you didn't have to scream so loud." He replied, shifting her close to him. "I think you broke someone's ear drums." Doumeki's hand was on her hair now, tendering searching for the wound on her head. She flinched when he found it (above her ear and towards the back of her head) and then gasped as he plastered his hand over it, stemming the blood flow.

"Ow!" She grimaced.

"Sorry." He apologized.

"S'okay." She mumbled.

"Okay, who screamed loud enough to unravel my string?" A sharp voice ordered.

"Kubinashi, be nice!" A soft, feminine voice snapped back.

"Yeah, Kubinashi. She had quite the scare." That voice was the voice of a seductress, smooth and low.

"She'll be fine in a minute!~" That one was Yuko, conversing with these people like they were already acquainted. "Right, Watanuki?"

"Shut up." Watanuki hissed, wiping her own eyes when some more blood

"Is that the way you speak to your employer?"

"It is when she's speaking for me instead of asking me how I'm doing!" Watanuki had lost her bag and started looking around for it, knowing she had a clean handkerchief in it somewhere to soak up her blood so Doumeki didn't have to keep plugging up her wound.

"Here." A soft voice said, holding out a clean cloth to the girl.

"Thanks." She said, moving Doumeki's hand and replacing it with the handkerchief. She looked at the person who'd offered the cloth. He was a short boy with glasses and huge brown eyes. His hair was brown on top and black underneath and he was wearing a huge smile as he stood up and shoved his hands into his hoodie pockets.

"You sure surprised us!" The boy laughed.

"You surprised me." Watanuki replied, and looked up at the "us." She was surrounded by people of all different sized and appearances. They all looked human at first, normal facial features and clothing, but then when Watanuki blinked, they're appearance would shift. For example, the huge guy with darker skin wearing a boy's school uniform kept blinking in between that form and the guy with the dark kimono, a skull necklace and pointy white hair. There was a girl whose bright blue eyes kept turning yellow, her two toned hair swirling about her girl's uniform or her white kimono, depending on when Watanuki blinked. That was just a few, but everyone in the courtyard was doing to same thing, fluctuating between human and spirit form. Watanuki only had two questions at this point (because it was clear that this was a yokai house) and her big mouth just blabbed them out.

"What is this place and are those skulls around your neck real?" She asked, pointing to the huge man.

"Huh?" The large man asked. "How did you-? I'm in my human form!"

"Aotabou!" The small, white kimono-girl hissed. "Be quiet!"

"It's useless." Yuko stated, pulling out her pipe and lighting it for a smoke. She inhaled and puffed out a cloud as a multitude of eyes watched her, waiting for an explanation. "Watanuki can see right through your illusions. She knows you're yokai."

"What?!" There was a collective gasp and Watanuki just rolled her eyes.

"Well then, how do you know?" The small, brown-haired boy asked.

"I just do." Yuko said vaguely. The glasses-boy opened his mouth to ask another question when Watanuki cut him off.

"Forget her, she hardly ever makes sense." Watanuki huffed. She'd bled through the handkerchief and surprisingly enough, another own was held out to her, this time by the white kimono-girl.

"Then I guess it's stupid for us to keep hiding ourselves." She smiled brightly and her form stabilized into the white kimono girl with a long, flowing scarf. Her bright blue eyes phased into a golden yellow with dark circles in them, hypnotic even as she smiled. "I'm a yuki onna but you can call me Tsurara!"

"I'm Watanuki." The seer thanked the yuki onna and took the cold handkerchief and switched it out with the blood soaked one.

"You smell really good, you know that?" Tsurara knelt down to held Watanuki dab at her wound.

"So I've been told." Watanuki sighed.

"I think you smell good." Doumeki added.

"I don't need to hear that from you!" As Watanuki snapped at Doumeki, the rest of the yokai that were hanging around the courtyard transformed back into their regular yokai forms.

"How sad!" One of the human-looking yokai declared. He was handsome, wearing monk's robes and pyramid shaped hat, his black hair framing his face. He clanked his staff on the ground, a dissatisfied look on his face.

"What's sad, Kurotabo?" Tsurara asked.

"That my beautiful human guise was seen through so easily!" The monk-man walked closer, kneeling and taking Watanuki's free hand in his own. "But to be seen through by this beautiful woman is enough to make me-"

"Shut up, pervet." Watanuki said, her voice flat. She was not going to even entertain the idea of a yokai falling in love or trying to flirt with her. She already had a boyfriend, and he was human and he was enough trouble as it is. Kurotabo's face fell and the huge monk with the skulls picked him up and walked away with him like a lawn chair. The glasses-boy let a sweat drop slide down his face, an awkward grimace-smile on his face.

"Sorry about that! Just ignore him." The boy asked.

"Already did." Watanuki replied. Kurotabo gasped in pain from the rejection.

"I'm Rikuo Nura by the way, and this is my house." The boy smiled brightly. Watanuki blinked and his form shifted too, just not as dramatically. It was blurry, but she could see his hair extend out the back of his head, the top half white and the bottom half black. He had red eyes and he face was angular, not at all like his human form and the demon form was smirking and not smiling.

"Kimihiro Watanuki." She introduced herself. "You're a yokai too?" Watanuki asked.

"Y-yeah. Quarter yokai actually…" Rikuo seemed unsettled that Watanuki could see even his form but before an awkward silence could ensue, a bright cheerful woman who was definitely human walked into the courtyard.

"Rikuo! What's going on out here? Everything got really quiet!" The woman looked like Rikuo, the same brown hair and round face structure and dark eyes. She smiled brightly at all the yokai around her and then gasped when she saw Watanuki, soaked and bleeding in Doumeki's arms. "What happened?!" She gasped, running towards the pond to check on the girl.

"You might not believe this, but we're not from this world." Yuko stated cryptically, puffing her pipe.

"What?" The cheerful woman asked.

"Mom, they fell out of the sky." Rikuo explained. "She fell in the pond and hit her head. She can _see_ everyone."

"Oh my! How strange!" Rikuo's mom said, surprised by her visitors. "But that must sound strange coming from the woman who runs a household full of yokai!" She laughed happily and started picking Watanuki up with help from Doumeki. "You're soaked! Let's get you inside to a warm bath and get your head looked at!"

"If you wouldn't mind, could we all use your bath?" Yuko asked. "We've just come from an unhygienic place and had to deal with a nasty demon there, so we're not in the best shape."

"Sure! And you can stay for dinner too if you like!"

"Oh yay!" Yuko clapped her hands together in delight. "Watanuki's a fabulous cook so she can help!"

"Yuko!" The girl snapped, very upset that she was being rented out again, and with a head injury no less!"

"Oh, suck it up, Watanuki!" Yuko tsked. "If we're going to be imposing we're going to help out!" Yuko applied her policy of equivalence and balance exchange to the situation.

"The only helping out you're going to do if helping out eating all the food!"

"That' right!~" The witch winked.

"Mokona too!~" The fur ball finally spoke, surprising everyone when it jumped up and down on Yuko's shoulder.

"It's so cute!" Tsurara gasped, running towards the full ball and staring at the creature with huge eyes.

"It's a nuisance." Watanuki grumbled, but her complaint went unheard as Rikuo's mom and Doumeki dragged her inside the old-style Japanese mansion and to the bath. When they reached the baths, Watanuki found herself without privacy as the small yokai followed her into the changing room, but then Yuko walked in and shooed them all out, her presence scaring the crap out of them. Rikuo's mother introduced herself as Wakana Nura and then cheerfully stripped both of her female guests and spirited their clothes away to wash them.

"I'm sorry if they startled you." She said on her way out. "But they're all good people even if they look scary!" Before Watanuki could answer, Yuko was pushing her naked ass into the bath and sat her down on a short stool to shower off the girl, careful of her open wound and started cleaning herself as well.

"At least this world has indoor plumbing!~" Yuko sighed, washing her long black hair. Watanuki had seen Yuko naked plenty of times, but she'd never actually taken a bath with the witch and it was uncomfortable to look at her small breasts and then take a peek at Yuko's well endowed chest. It was downright depressing to realize that she looked like a five year old in comparison! "As much fun as we had in the last world, bathing in a river was not the most enjoyable experience!"

"I wouldn't know. I was too busy being a doll." Watanuki replied, lathering soap over her skin, curled into herself so Yuko didn't see her chest and insecurity. She didn't do a very good job and the witch rolled her eyes.

"Watanuki, I already know you have barely any boobs." The girl blushed at the statement, her face going beet red. "Anyway, as beautiful as Feudal Japan was, I wouldn't want to live without plumbing. Alright! Time to rinse!" The witch grabbed the removable shower head and doused herself in water, getting rid of all her soap bubbles and then did Watanuki, careful not to spray the girl's cut. It was still bleeding a little and so the water around Watanuki turned pink as the blood ran into the drain along with the soap. "Into the tub!" Yuko grabbed her slave and dragged her into the hot bath, both of them sighing in delight as the warm water soothed their aches.

Watanuki was still stiff from her last adventure and cold from her dip in the pond and so she sunk into the hot water until everything but her nose and eyes remained above water. Yuko lounged in the tub on the other side, her long leg's tangling with Watanuki's. The seer was content until something swam passed her thigh and ass.

"Wah!" She yelped as something caressed her skin, flailing around the splashing water over the side of the tub. Mokona surfaced in the bath, holding a small fish yokai in its mitts. It gave Watanuki a look that said "cook this" and she growled at the fur ball. "You can't eat that!"

"Aw! Come on!"

"No!"

"Here!" Tsurara and another woman came in, the yuki onna holding out a fish bowl. Mokona sighed and tossed the fish yokai into the water and then pouted, folding its arms moodily. Tsurara giggled and left the room with the fish. The other woman came in, dressed in a white kimono with flower patterns on it and holding a first aid kit. She was gorgeous. The woman had long brown hair that fell over one of her eyes and was pulled into a long pony tail, her one visible eye a deep brown. She had huge boobs too, just like Yuko!

"I'm Kejoro." She smiled smoothly. "Please sit up. I shall dress your wound." Watanuki pushed her butt against the side of the tub and rose out of the water. Kejoro dried off her hair gently with a towel and then applied some antiseptic that made Watanuki wince. "Sorry."

"It's okay." The girl replied. The woman then wrapped a bandage around the girl's forehead to keep the compress for swelling secured.

"Is that alright? It's not too tight or too loose?" Kejoro asked after she was done. Watanuki moved her head a bit to feel the bandage on her head.

"Nope. It's good." The girl replied with a smile.

"Good." Kejoro packed up the first aid kit and stood to leave. "Please, take your time. We'll be having dinner in an hour. Fresh clothes have been put in the changing room for you."

"Thank you." Yuko replied, crossing her legs sensually. Everything was blurry without her glasses, but Watanuki could still envy Yuko's breasts from this distance.

"Watanuki, stop staring. You'll give yourself an ulcer." The witch teased, leaning forward to showcase her chest.

"Sh-shut up!" Watanuki folded her arms in a huff, looking away from her boss.

"Don't worry! You'll get breasts when you're older!~ And if you don't, I'm pretty sure that Doumeki likes your small chest just the way it is!~" The witch smiled devilishly.

"I said 'shut up!'" Yuko laughed and Mokona cackled, causing Watanuki to try and strangled the black blob of fur. Eventually, they climbed out of the bath to dry off (once Watanuki bonked her head trying to catch Mokona first, adding a goose egg to her ever growing list of injuries) and then donned their borrowed clothes. Yuko, fittingly enough, was dressed in a deep red and purple kimono with a butterfly and garden theme and Watanuki's was pink with camellia blossoms.

"Aw! You're adorable!~" Yuko cooed, twirling in her robes and clapping her hands together.

"Shut up!" Watanuki blushed again, twisting her hands into her kimono.

"Come on! I'm hungry!" Yuko grabbed the girl's hand again and yanked her down the hallway, the seer slipping in her socks. Mokona hopped behind them, teasing Watanuki all the way.

"You're always hungry!" Watanuki shot back.

"But this time I'm _really_ hungry!"

"You're always _really_ hungry!" As they went down the hallway, the two women and the fur ball ran into Doumeki, who was talking to a short old guy with a head that looked like a cocoon extending out behind him. Doumeki was dressed in a green and brown kimono with square patterns, his hair freshly washed.

"Ah, hello there." The short man greeted the new arrivals. "I was just talking to Doumeki here about getting you. I'm Nurarihyon, Rikuo's grandfather."

"Nice to meet you. I'm Yuko Ichihara." The witch introduced herself.

"Kimihiro Watanuki." The seer added.

"Now that we've got that out of the way…let's eat! I'm hungry!" Nurarihyon smiled, his wrinkles bunching up and Watanuki groan as Yuko shoved her towards the kitchen while she, Doumeki and the old man went into the dining room.

It was pure chaos. Kejoro, Tsurara, Wakana and a hoard of little demons were all cooking in the kitchen when Watanuki was shoved in there. She was immediately given a spot at a stove and plenty to cook, and they let her have at it. After getting used to all the little yokai running around her feet and the fact that most of Tsurara's food was frozen, Watanuki settled in, occasionally asking for ingredients and cookware when she didn't know where it was. She cooked up a storm: frying meat, steaming vegetables, hand dipping shrimp, rolling sushi and whatever else was given to her. Kejoro and Tsurara went with Wakana to deliver the food as it was finished, holding a multitude red, traditional trays with all the dishes. In the dining room, Yuko was busying giving Nurarihyon, Karasu Tengu and his children, Kurotabo, Aotabo, and Hitotsume a run for their sake, out drinking everyone in the room without throwing up. Doumeki, unfortunately, was in a little clear space of his own (due to his pure aura) but all the yokai in the room were nice to him from a distance and kept passing him food and would shout out his requests for dishes to Watanuki in chorus, to which she'd replied with the snarkiest, foul tempered shouts to stick his requests up his ass. Doumeki just kept requesting, pulling them out of his ass. Watanuki finally had to retaliate by throwing a chopstick at him and storming out of the room when she'd helped Kejoro bring in more sake.

"See? I told you she's fine!~" Yuko poked Rikuo, downing another glass of sake. "She's back to her old self and man is it annoying!~"

"I heard that, you witch!" Watanuki yelled, coming back with another load of food. The small yokai swarmed around her, clambering for the food she'd prepared and then passing it around cheerfully and the girl fell over from them climbing on her.

"So clumsy!~" Yuko teased, a drunk blush on her face.

"I hope your drunken ass gets trampled!"

"Now, Watanuki. That's not very nice!~" The witch pouted. "You should be more lady-like! Or else Doumeki might lose interest!"

"Ee's oo gud of a cuk oo 'eave oh." Doumeki said with food in his mouth.

"Swallow before speaking!" Watanuki's teeth sharpened as she karate chopped Doumeki on the head. Domeki plugged his ears as she ranted at him and the entire room laughed at them. Watanuki blushed in embarrassment and frustration and stormed out of the room.

"She's a handful isn't she?" Rikuo asked, calming eating his own food in the chaos that was his household.

"Yes! But she's got her good qualities too!~" Yuko replied, stealing Hitotsume's sake, confusing the one-eyed giant as to where his bottle went. By the time he found it, the bottle was empty. "She's a hard worker, kind and stubborn to a fault and she's and excellent cook! But she's annoying, has a short fuse and i generally grumpy about everything! Watanuki!~ Sake!~"

"Go play in traffic, Yuko!" The seer threw another bottle of sake at the witch from across the room, and Yuko caught it effortlessly.

By the end of the night, Watanuki had hardly eaten anything, her head was throbbing, there wasn't any food or alcohol in the mansion at all and everyone was passed out in their beds, the air filled with sake breath. The only ones who weren't drunk were Watanuki, Wakana, Kejoro, Tsurara, and Rikuo, who all had to clean up after everyone else. By the time Watanuki made it to her borrowed bed, flopping down in between Tsurara and Natto Kozo and Karasu Tengu's daughter Sasami, Watanuki had a head ache, she was pretty sure her bandages were soaked, but she was too tired to care.

"Damn, that Yuko!" She whispered. "Making me cook for everyone when I can hardly see straight." Watanuki took off her glasses and tucked them in her kimono, scared that they'd be crushed on the floor otherwise. She threw her blanket over herself and tried to go to sleep. Unfortunately, someone's foot plopped on her face. She growled and shoved it off her cheek, tipping her head back to see who the perpetrator was. It was Kappa, the yokai who'd saved her so Watanuki just turned over and didn't make a big deal out of it. However, she did hiss at the next person who rolled over her feet. That one was Doumeki and Watanuki kicked him off her in retaliation. By the time she fell asleep it was two in the morning, and she'd had to move out into the hallway so she didn't get kicked anymore. And that's where Rikuo found her in the morning.

"Uh, Watanuki?" The boy whispered in the early morning hours. The sun was up but most of the household was still snoring. Rikuo poked Watanuki's cheek, trying to ignore the fact that the girl's kimono had slipped off her shoulder and her chest was exposed. He pulled the sleeve back up and poked the girl again. "Watanuki?" She groaned, cracking her bronze eye open to glare death at whoever woke her. "You know you're in the hallway, right?"

"'Es." She grumbled into her pillow. "Eople 'ept 'icking mee."

"Ah." The boy replied, understanding. Watanuki looked at the boy's black uniform and backpack, obviously getting ready to go to school.

"Going to school?" She asked, picking her head up and trying to fix her hair.

"Yeah, mom's just making my lunch for me and she has breakfast ready for those who are awake. Doumeki's in the kitchen eating."

"Of course he is." The seer rolled her eyes and let her face fall back into her pillow. And then something dawned on her. Rikuo was going to school, which meant that the one of few normal people in this house was going to leave her here with a bunch of crazy demons. Her eyes shot open, wide awake. "Can I go to school with you?!" She asked desperately.

"Uh…" Rikuo was taken aback. "Why?"

"Because I can't deal with this place!" Watanuki was up and folding away her futon and blanket into a neat pile in the hallway, pushing on her glasses in the process.

"Uh…well…" The boy yokai didn't know how to answer.

"Just let her go. She'll be trouble all day long if you don't." Yuko's head popped out from one of the bedrooms, her hair falling into her face. And then she retreated, falling back on her futon and going to sleep again.

"Okay then." Rikuo nodded. "I'll see if Tsurara has an extra uniform for you."

"She goes to school too?" Watanuki asked.

"Yes. Her and Aotabo. They're my bodyguards."

"Bodyguards?"

"Yeah, I'm kinda the heir to this household. The Nura clan is the leader of many yokai clans around Japan so I'm kina really important." Rikuo put his hand behind his head in embarrassment and smiled softly.

"So…you're like a yakuza household?" Watanuki asked.

"Sort of."

"Whatever. Not the weirdest thing I've ever heard." Watanuki stood up and made her way to the kitchen. I'll see you in a minute!"

Wakana had breakfast ready for Watanuki when she walked in and the girl gratefully ate, ragging on Doumeki for being a pig in the process. Tsurara came in later and gave Watanuki a spare school uniform to wear and Doumeki went to find his own because it was nearly the same as Rikuo's. Watanuki went into an empty room to change, putting on the blue sailor's skirt, white button up that looked like Kagome's uniform (only in blue and not green)and tan sleeveless sweater. Then she realized that her long legs made the skirt look like a mini, but there wasn't anything she could do about that. Watanuki bandaged her head with a small patch, hiding it as best she could in her hair and pulling her raven locks into her customary high pony tail. She then quickly went to help Wakana pack the five lunches they'd need today and (begrudgingly)whipped up some tamagoyaki, per Doumeki's request. And then the five of them were out the door – Rikuo, Tsurara, Aotabo, Doumeki and Watanuki all walking to school together (both yokai in their human disguises).

It was on this walk that Watanuki found out that they had ended up in Ukoyoe Town, a district in Tokyo that wasn't _her_ Tokyo. This was where the Nura clan's headquarters was, and Watanuki had fallen into the headquarters' pond and everyone else in the group had a good laugh about the situation when it was brought up again. Watanuki just pouted and stomped ahead of them so she didn't have to hear their snickering. She ended up watching the people around her. They were just like the people in her Tokyo, leading their own lives and bustling higgledy-piggledy in the streets and in their cars, going to work, going to school, shopping or heading to hang outs with friends. It was the same atmosphere as the seer's home, only it was worlds apart.

And then, when Watanuki wasn't paying attention, Doumeki grabbed her by the collar and yanked the protesting girl backwards and around the corner she had missed. The seer gave the archer a piece of her mind about not dragging people by their collars and just calling to them to get them to turn around. Of course, in the event of her outburst, Rikuo and his yokai friends just watched – embarrassed – as the raven flailed and wriggled around as she screamed, the person she was screaming at just plugging his ears. People skirted around the little group in apprehension until Watanuki stopped screaming and moodily walked next to Doumeki. Rikuo just laughed nervously and kept walking with Tsurara and Aotabo, the three of them wondering just how much trouble the pair of dimension travelers were going to be. They arrived at Ukiyoe Middle School ten minutes later and it was at this point that Watanuki realized just out of place she was.

There were tons of junior high students milling around the courtyard, all talking with their friends and giving Watanuki weird looks. Doumeki was in the same boat as Aotabo. He was just a really tall, mature looking ninth grader (even if he was two years older than everyone else). If he kept up his strong, silent type persona, he could pass as a growth spurt-plagued 3rd year. Watanuki on the other hand was half a foot taller than most of the girls, she carried herself like an adult (most of the time) and despite her apparent lack of boobs (that some of these thirteen year olds possessed in abundance for some godforsaken reason) she look like she belonged in high school (which she did). It was uncomfortable to be the center of attention as other students milled about around the four students (Tsurara had disappeared at some point) and Watanuki wriggled in her mini skirt. Rikuo didn't know what to do either and just waved and greeted the people who passed them and introduced Watanuki and Doumeki as his cousins to the few people who asked who the new kids were. A few of Rikuo's friends game up and introduced themselves to the "cousins." The annoying loud one that reminded Doumeki of Watanuki was Kiyotsugu, the student body president and clearly yokai-obsessed boy Rikuo hung out with. The boy had wavey dark hair and an angular face with narrow eyes. He was trailed by a blond boy named Shima, who seemed to go along with everything Kiyotsugu said most of the time and had a huge smile. A pair of girls wandered up next, a blonde with boobs Watanuki envied named Saori Maki and the dark haired girl next to her was Natsumi Torii. The four friends talked to Rikuo for a few minutes, studying the pretty girl cousin and the handsome boy cousin with much interest.

"Nura! You should have them come to our Kiyojuji Paranormal Patrol meeting at lunch today!" Loudmouth Kiyotsugu suggested very loudly, striking dramatic poses in the process.

"You sure?" Rikuo asked.

"Of course!"

"What's this Kiyojuji Paranormal thingy?" Watanuki asked.

"It's a squad of our friends that learn about and hunt for yokai! Its lots of fun!" Kiyotsugu explained excitedly.

"So he says," Another girl interrupted as she joined the group. This girl was very pretty with huge brown eyes and long brown hair. "Mostly we just get into trouble, I'd say."

"Ienaga! That's not very nice!" Kiyotsugu protested.

"Hi Kanna!" Rikuo greeted his friend brightly.

"Rikuo, who are these people?"

"These are Nura's cousins!" Kiyotsugu interjected before Rikuo could explain. "Their names are Watanuki and Doumeki!"

"It's nice to meet you, Ienaga." Watanuki said, bowing to the girl. Watanuki grabbed Doumeki's hand and yanked him into a bow with her so he didn't seem so rude. Kana bowed back.

"And you as well. Call me Kana."

"These cousins of yours have very good manners." Another black-haired girl walked up, her dark eyes trained on Watanuki. "I'm Yura Keikain."

"Nice to meet you. You can call me Watanuki, and this oaf here is Doumeki." The seer said, bowing and pulling Doumeki down with here again.

"Yura Keikain is our resident onmyoji and exorcist in the Kiyojuji Paranormal Patrol and now that we've all met, you have to attend our meeting at lunch today!" Kiyotsugu crowed, laughing loudly.

"Sure, whatever." Watanuki replied. They were sticking around the school today, even if she and Doumeki wouldn't be attending classes. It was better to hang around Rikuo's weird friends than to hang around the rabble of yokai at his house. The first bell rang as the group was talking and so everyone except Rikuo, Watanuki and Doumeki went inside for their classes. The three were at a loss at what to do. Watanuki and Doumeki couldn't possibly fit into Rikuo's classes or even the 3rd years classes, but they'd get in trouble for trespassing on school property.

And then Tsurara popped up again, her deep blue eyes sparkling with mischief as she proudly held out two visitor passes to Watanuki and Doumeki.

"How did you get those?!" Rikuo asked, his glasses nearly falling off his face in surprise.

"I tricked an office aid." The yuki onna smiled and stuck her tongue out.

"Tsurara…" Rikuo sighed, shaking his head at her behavior.

"Whatever." Doumeki said, grabbing the passes and Watanuki's collar and dragging the girl into the building before they really got caught.

"We'll see you at lunch Rikuo!" Watanuki called as Doumeki dragged her inside. "Let go of me you asshole!" She yelled at her boyfriend as they walked into the building and the archer found the first set of stairs to climb. With their departure, Rikuo and Tsurara just looked at each other and shrugged, following the "cousins" inside and to their separate classes.

Doumeki took Watanuki to the roof and they hung out up there until lunchtime. Watanuki passed the hours by lying down and watching the clouds float by and making out shapes. Doumeki took a nap. Well…he took a nap after he snuck a few peeks at Watanuki's underwear when the breeze blew up her already short skirt. And then Watanuki ranted his ears off when she caught him and then he took a nap. After several bells chimed, lunch arrived and with it, the annoying Kiyotsugu and all of Rikuo's friend, including Rikuo. They all settled down on the roof top to eat, each teen pulling out their lunches and started to eat.

"So…where do you go to school?" Natsumi asked, leaning forward to stare at Watanuki with her dark, cat-like eyes. She'd been staring at the older girl since she'd gotten up on the roof, mystified with the seer's dichromatic eyes.

"Private Cross Academy." Watanuki replied, taking another bite of her lunch.

"Oh, you mean you used to right?" The blonde Saori replied, taking a bite of her lunch as well. Watanuki was confused now.

"Oh, yeah." Kana joined in the conversation, taking a seat next to Rikuo when she came up onto the roof. "That school burned down two years ago, after that girl fell out of the second story window and died, right?" Watanuki looked at Doumeki, the story the girl was telling sounding very similar to her own incident with the window.

"Yeah, it was all over the news!" Shima interjected, the blond boy's lighting up with excitement.

"I heard that the accident that killed that girl was yokai related and my clan sent a skilled exorcist to bless the grounds," Yura added, the small exorcist joining in as well. "Unfortunately, half the school building was burned to the ground before he got there and he couldn't find any spirits there at the time."

"But I heard that every time they try to rebuild or redevelop the grounds terrible accidents happen to the construction crews that halt the work! It must be a yokai!" Kiyotsugu shouted, leaping up into a dramatic lunge while still holding his lunch.

"But if a skilled exorcist couldn't find any spirits when he looked over the school how can it be yokai related?" Rikuo asked.

"Because they yokai must've fled to safety and then came back when Yura's clansman left!"

"But he blessed the grounds with a powerful spell that only truly powerful yokai can break. Are you saying that this yokai could really be that strong?" Yura asked.

"There's only one way to find out! We need to go to Private Cross Academy and find out for ourselves!" Kiyotsugu declared.

"Forget it." Saori cut off her friend, turning fully back to her lunch.

"I'm out." Natsumi agreed.

"I'm not going. Every time we go into an abandoned school building bad things end up happening." Kana added.

"But that's because yokai really do exist!"

"I'm not sure about this one either, Kiyotsugu." Shima replied, his smiled gone. "Several of the construction workers got seriously hurt. I don't want that to happen to us."

"Where's your sense of adventure!?" The student body president asked, turning to look at each of his friends in shock. "Nura! You agree with me right?" He asked, turning to the brunette boy.

"I have to stay with my cousin's today, so I can't do anything right now." Rikuo gave an apologetic smile.

"Looks like you got shot down." Watanuki finished up, pointing her chopsticks at the flabbergasted boy. Kiyotsugu had a mini breakdown right there on the roof but no one would take his side on this one. That however, didn't stop Watanuki's curiosity from growing. The eerily similar story to her own experiences had peaked her interest, and she was going to find out just who had died.

She dragged Doumeki and Rikuo to the library after school had ended, the trio waving goodbye to Tsurara and Aotabo as they went home to do kitchen and cleaning duties. From the school, Watanuki made a beeline to the library and sat down in the nearest computer once she'd gotten inside. Rikuo and Doumeki floated around her for a minute and then took seats on either side of the seer as she logged onto the internet and looked up Private Cross Academy. The search pulled up many articles on the construction accidents that had happened since the school had been burned down, and it took several minutes of searching to find an article about the girl who'd died. Watanuki wasn't happy about what she found. She frowned as she started reading the article out loud softly.

"On June 12th, 2008 Kimihiro Watanuki fell out of a second story window on the Private Cross Academy High School's campus. A fellow student, Wari Kunogi, said that the girl lost her balance while talking with him on the second floor. She tipped into the window, bumping the pane with her shoulder and the glass came loose. Both the female student and the window pane fell to the ground two levels down. Watanuki was rushed to the hospital but died en route from blood loss caused by the fall and by deep lacerations caused by falling on the shattered glass pane, and by head trauma."

Watanuki looked up from the computer and stared at Doumeki's face, which had gone pale by that point and Rikuo's face didn't look any better.

"Holy shit." The girl breathed, realizing that in this world…she'd died when she tumbled out of that window. "I died."

"Yeah." Doumeki replied, not really knowing what to say. Watanuki looked through several of the accident articles dealing with the school's fire just a few days after this world's Watanuki died and articles dealing with the redevelopment of the property. She found a couple with testimonies of workers that said they saw a girl walking in what was left of the school building, but they never saw her close up.

"So…the articles about people getting injured on the school's construction site are all caused by Watanuki's ghost?" Rikuo asked, just as confused as everyone else.

"They aren't caused by me." Watanuki protested. "From what Yuko tells me, people can live many lives across the dimensions. Every world out there might have one of me and one of you on it. Or not, though it seems that this world has one of me…and she died two years ago." Watanuki stopped talking again, trying to wrap her mind around this fact. "I'm dead in this world. I died. That fall killed me." Doumeki reached his hand out and took his girlfriend's hand tightly.

"You're alive Watanuki. You didn't die." He said softly.

"Right." Watanuki nodded, shaking her head to throw out her depressing thoughts of death. Rikuo was still studying the articles, scrolling down page by page, the computer screen's light blanking out his glasses.

"Well, now that I know about these accidents at the school, I need to do something about it." The boy stated after a few minutes. "The Nura clan cannot have rouge spirits causing serious damage to human affairs."

"So what are you going to do?" Doumeki asked.

"I need to go to the school and either recruit this spirit to my clan or I'm going to have to make her stop needlessly hurting people one way or another."

"I'm going with you." Watanuki said, closing all the browsing windows on the internet and logging out of the computer.

"Watanuki…" Doumeki warned, trying to keep the seer out of trouble.

"I need to see this for myself. Maybe this world's Watanuki will listen to me since I'm really her." The raven was determined to go and nothing was going to stop her, Doumeki could tell. He sighed and nodded and then the three of them walked out of the library as the sun was setting.

It took a little while to get to Private Cross Academy from where they started from, but past a certain point, Watanuki and Doumeki knew the way by heart, their feet taking them right to the school while Rikuo followed closely behind them. When they passed into view of the schools gates, Watanuki was shocked by how wrecked her school was. The back half of the building was missing, what was left from the fire was falling apart and several construction struts had been left on the property.

"It's a dump." Doumeki stated bluntly.

"I can see that!" Watanuki snapped back.

"Do you guys really go to this school?" Rikuo asked, still staring at the destruction.

"Yes, but in our world it's still nice. Though, I really did fall out of the window. That pane had to be replaced." Watanuki walked up to the gates and tried to open them. "Locked!" She called back to the boys.

"Looks like we're going to have to climb over them." Domeki said, a similar instance they'd been through bringing a small smile to his face. Watanuki blushed when she noticed his expression.

"You're going to help me over because you're taller and you're not going to look at my underwear this time!" She yelled, pointing an accusing finger at the archer.

"I can't promise anything." Doumeki replied, fully intent on peeping.

"You asshole! Why I put up with you I'll never know!"

"You love me."

"I hate you right now!" Before she could got on a rant again, Doumeki was already kneeling at Watanuki's feet and hoisting the girl up. She yelped and glared down at the exorcist and then stepped on his face for good measure because she _knew_ he was looking up her skirt. The girl jumped to the ground safely and Doumeki hoist Rikuo up before climbing over himself.

The school looked worse the closer they got, the walls breaking down, debris and shattered glass everywhere. Watanuki looked up at the window she'd fallen out and thought she spotted someone up there. She stared harder, narrowing her eyes. Whoever it was, they moved like a shadow, slinking in the dark. Until the rising moon shed its light on the building. Watanuki gasped. The figure looked like her, only she seemed to be made of Yuko's smoke or gray cloth, insubstantial and other worldly.

"Do you see her?" Watanuki asked Doumeki.

"No. Do you?" He asked Rikuo.

"Yes. Do you?" He asked Watanuki."

"Of course I do! I'm the one who asked the question in the first place!" Watanuki hissed, not wanting to startle herself. _That was an odd thought._ "What is she?" The seer asked, as she watched herself walk past the windows on the second floor, wandering the halls.

"She's an enenra…a spirit made of smoke. She's insubstantial because she is missing her other half." Yuko explained, doing that thing where she pops up exactly where she needs to be right when she needs to be there. Watanuki didn't even know how she and Mokona got over the gate without them knowing.

"Her other half?" Watanuki asked, looking at this world's version of herself, the dead spirit that resided in this abandoned school building.

"This Watanuki had no Doumeki. He never existed to her." Yuko said, sadness seeping into her voice. She looked at her own rain-soaked Watanuki and hoped that this never happened to her. "Either the Doumeki in this world never existed, he never met this Watanuki, or he died from disease or accident. Nevertheless, without someone like Doumeki, this Watanuki was never protected like you are and plagued by spirits and bad luck; she came upon that accident that killed her. And then the school burned when the spirit Watanuki took her revenge, I think. She set the school on fire when she became a smoke spirit."

"That's horrible." Watanuki watched herself wander the scorched halls of the abandoned school building, passing by the windows she herself had fallen out of. "She must be lonely."

"She can always join the Nura clan." Night Rikuo walked up behind Watanuki, his lower voice startling the seer. She hadn't even seen him transform. Rikuo's yokai form was wearing traditional Japanese clothing now, his school uniform disappearing. His eyes were narrower, the irises red and his hair was two-toned black and white now, extending back behind him like Nurarihyon's head, only to the side and not the back.

"You'd let her join your clan?" Watanuki asked, awe and hope leaking through her voice. She'd never seen someone like Night Rikuo, and it was kind of stunning. Even the Tengu or Jorogumo couldn't impress her like Rikuo. He was stunning, merciful and compassionate. She'd see these traits in his human self too, but they seemed to be amplified now. "Or she can move on – by force or by her own free will. Dead spirits have that option." And then Rikuo's voice hardened, showing Watanuki that he could be merciless as well. "But, if she continues to be a disturbance to this area, I will have to kill her."

"Rikuo…" Watanuki started, not knowing what to say. All she knew is that she didn't want the spirit her to be killed. If she wanted to move on, then so be it…but to have herself be killed by the sword was a horrible thought, even if it wasn't _her._

"Come with me." Night Rikuo took Watanuki's hand and pulled her towards the school. Doumeki (who had been silent this whole time) started walking behind them. Rikuo stopped and turned to look back at the exorcist. "Not you. You'll scare the spirit away with that aura of yours."

"But-" The archer started to protest.

"She'll be fine with me. I promise I'll protect her if the worst comes." Rikuo replied.

"Doumeki, let me do this." Watanuki looked her boyfriend in the eyes, hoping he saw determination and conviction instead of the uneasiness she was also feeling. Doumeki looked into Watanuki's mismatched eyes for a moment and then nodded, stepping back to stand next to Yuko and Mokona. The pair who was staying behind watched the other pair walk into the building and disappear into the darkness.

Watanuki stayed close to Rikuo, holding onto his arm as they transverse the deteriorating floor of the high school building, walking around breaks and jumping over holes that were too big to step across, all the while, the nurarihyon holding onto the girl and helping her hop over fallen tables and sections of ceiling that had crashed to the floor. Moonlight filtered in from the broken windows, illuminating their path while also casting dark shadows across the hallways and class rooms. They both walked in silence, the presence of such a power yokai and the sword being carried on his shoulder making the girl feel just a little safer. The only problem was that the little spirits and yokai that had taken up residence with the enenra kept following them, scrambling around Watanuki's legs as her blood called out to them. She tried to ignore them the best she could because they seemed to be behaving while Rikuo was with her, and just kept walking. The pair found a set of stairs at the end of the hallway and climbed up to the second floor, hopping over steps that were missing or falling apart. Rikuo had to toss Watanuki to the top of the stairs once because the last five steps were missing and then he gracefully followed by jumping them as well, his haori floating behind him gracefully as he landed and then fluttering down to his knees. Rikuo smiled at Watanuki, his red eyes smiling as she stared at him. The seer just blushed and huffed at the same time, pivoting on her heel and walking into the hallways. Just as they turned the corner into the second floor hallway, Watanuki spotted the enenra spirit turning around the corner at the end of the same hallway, disappearing from sight.

"Wait!" She called, reaching out and running down the hallway.

"Watanuki! Be careful, you idiot!" Rikuo yelled after the girl, running to catch up to her long legs. Watanuki had made it halfway down the hall, tripping and hopping around debris from the scorched insides of the building until the ground collapsed under her. Her foot had gone through the floor, breaking away the planks with a crack and falling through the hole. Watanuki's previous fall in Inuyasha's world and the fall from the second story of her school building flashed through her brain and she cursed her ability to always get in these situations. She sank through the floor, the broken planks of wood falling with her. They crashed to the floor below while Watanuki hung suspended in the air, her hand being gripped tightly by Rikuo. Watanuki looked up and saw the yokai bracing himself against floor as he hauled her back up onto the second floor and crawled to the edges of the hallway as the rest of that section gave away and crashed onto the ground floor. They both sat on a stable part of the hallways and breathed a sigh of relief, sitting back on their butts for just a moment.

"Thanks." Watanuki breathed as she started breathing again from her scare.

"You need to be more careful." Rikuo admonished, giving her a hard look. "If you get hurt your boyfriend's going to exorcise me and I don't want to die just yet."

"Fair enough." Watanuki said, standing up and brushing off her borrowed uniform. It had several rips and holes in it by this point so she was pretty sure Tsurara was going to kill her later. "Let's go. We're not done yet." Watanuki reached out a hand to her companion and he took it. She hauled him to his feet and they both started carefully making their way down the hall again. When they got to the point where the enenra Watanuki disappeared, they found another set of stairs going up. These ones were in a much better condition than the last set so Watanuki had no trouble walking up them. This set also went straight to the roof, bypassing the third floor of classrooms. Watanuki reached the door outside first and opened in cautiously, her experiences with roofs not much better than second floors and peeked out to make sure no giant snakes or evil girl spirits besides the enenra were up here. There weren't any she could see so the girl quietly walked out onto the roof. She looked around as Rikuo followed close behind her, scanning the roof for the spirit.

"She's over there." Rikuo found her first, pointing towards the far corner of the building where the spirit was looking out over the city. Watanuki and Rikuo approached quietly so not to disturb or startle the enenra and Watanuki got a good look at the spirit.

She looked just like Watanuki, only Watanuki didn't hover six inches off the ground and wasn't made of smoke. The spirit was wearing the normal summer uniform of Private Cross Academy, the same one Watanuki had been wearing yesterday. The spirit's form kept shifting and billowing, the gray tint to her body resembling clouds of smoke blowing in a soft breeze. The spirit noticed the pair after a few minutes of her gray eyes scanning the skyscrapers of the city. She turned and looked at Watanuki and Rikuo, her gaze lingering over the living version of herself. It didn't seem to surprise the spirit much that she had a look alike, her face showing only the smallest amount of shock.

"It seems this world has already replaced me. Have you come to kill me?" The spirit asked, her voice devoid of emotion, her eyes blank.

"Only if you don't stop terrorizing this area." Rikuo answered.

"We're here to help you." Watanuki amended, elbowing the yokai in the stomach. It disturbed her how blunt supernatural beings could be. They both just talked about death and killing like it was no big deal!

"You cannot help me now. I'm a lost cause." The enenra replied, running her fingers through her hair.

"We can!" Watanuki protested, taking another step forward. The spirit took a step back. "We can help you move on, or you can join the Nura clan! You've heard of them right?"

"Yes, I have." The spirit looked at Rikuo carefully. "Is this the Third Heir?"

"Yes, I am." Rikuo said. "And if you're will to leave this school in peace so the humans can redevelop it, then I would be happy to have you join my Night Parade of One Hundred Demons."

"I don't know if I'm interested in joining your Parade." The enenra replied with Watanuki's face. The spirit sat down in the air like she was sitting on a chair, and folded her arms. "You see, I've been a loner all my life and I don't take orders very well."

"You wouldn't be joining an army, you'd be joining a family. That's what our clan is: a big family. We look out for each other. You'd have comrades to protect you now, and you could protect them. It's and exchange of power and protection." Rikuo explained. The spirit didn't reply, she just narrowed her eyes, obviously not liking the way the proposal was offered. Watanuki knew that a business-like approach wasn't going to work on the spirit because it hadn't worked on her very well when Yuko offered her a job. The seer took a deep breath and took a couple steps forward. The spirit didn't move this time.

"I know how much you hate to be alone." Watanuki began, stopping just a few feet in front of herself. "Like you said, you've been alone your whole life and it has hurt you. There was no one who believed that you could see spirits and demons because they couldn't see them. That hurt you when they called you a liar and pushed you away. You got used to it…being alone became second nature even though you wanted someone to be with you, to love you." Watanuki paused. She'd caught the enenra's attention, the spirit looking into her eyes with her own eerily familiar eyes. "I know because I've been through it too. I've been alone for a long time until I met my friends, and they accepted me for what I am and what I can do. They don't care that I can see spirits, they like me for me. You need people like that in your life. The Nura clan can give you that." Watanuki gave herself a reassuring smile. "I've been around them, and it's just like Rikuo said: they are a family. They don't leave each other alone and they help each other. They can help you."

Watanuki finished her speech and fell silent, the night breeze blowing in between the group on the roof. The spirit thought for a moment, her face taking on the look that Watanuki wore when she was faced with a really, really hard math problem. Rikuo and Watanuki waited for the spirit's answer as she thought.

"I don't know if I want to stay here any longer." The enenra started, breaking the silence she'd created. "This world holds to many painful memories for me. I think I want to go, but I don't know how."

"Then you can stay with us until you figure it out." Rikuo offered, his voice softening. The spirit was still wary, eyeing Rikuo like he was going to bite her.

"They're not that bad, I promise." Watanuki reassured. "A little loud, and they love to make you slave away in the kitchen, but that's because you're a good cook. I know that much!" Watanuki smiled and held out her hand. "Come on. Even if it's just for a little while, you're going to have friends. You're going to be fine."

"Are you sure?" The enenra asked.

"Yes, I'm sure. You can trust yourself, right?" Watanuki laughed and even if the spirit didn't laugh or smile, Watanuki could tell she was amused.

"I believe you, even if you're a little strange." With that, the spirit Watanuki did smile…just a little.

"If I'm weird, then what are you?" Watanuki laughed again. The spirit took her incarnation's hand and stood up. She walked over to Rikuo and bowed to him.

"I shall stay with your clan until such time that I move on." She stated formally. "Is this agreeable?"

"Yes." The two yokai nodded at each other and then something amazing happened. The enenra dissipated, her smoke surrounding Rikuo and Watanuki, swirling and swirling around them faster and faster. Watanuki shrieked as her feet lifted off the ground and Rikuo just smiled at her, amused. The spirit lifted them off the roof top and sailed down to the ground below. Watanuki got dropped on her butt and Night Rikuo leapt safely to the ground as the spirit Watanuki reformed herself. She looked at Yuko and Mokona, studying the witch.

"I'm sorry I did not find you in this world." Yuko said solemnly.

"I don't think I'd want to be found by you, witch." The spirit replied.

"That' what I think." Watanuki grumbled, rubbing her butt as she stood up.

"That's not very nice, Watanuki." Yuko admonished.

"I know." Both Watanuki's replied. The two girl smiled at each other. Doumeki had no clue what was going on because he couldn't really see or hear the spirit. She just looked like a shadow in the air, like the wisps of Yuko's pipe smoke.

"Let's go home." Rikuo said. Everyone nodded. The enenra looked back at her school once, turning around to bow and then became a cloud of smoke again, scooping everyone up and flying them through the night sky to the Nura household. She deposited at the front gate to the mansion, becoming a girl again and walking inside with her new friends and family. Watanuki sighed, brushing her skirt down and wondering for the millionth time if she was ever going to get home. Helping other people was fine an all, but she was getting tired, last night's activities weighing down on her even now.

"You're staying for dinner, right?" Rikuo asked, transforming back into his human form.

"It's time go. We've stayed here long enough and the portal should be here soon." Yuko said, walking into the courtyard of the Nura clan's headquarters. The rest of the household was milling about the mansion, but stopped to was and pester the group of travelers as they strolled in. Rikuo called greetings to all his friends, waving at Tsurara as the yuki-onna stared at her uniform in dismay. Watanuki had done quite a number on it when she remembered that her own uniform was still in the house.

"My uniform! I left it back at Rikuo's house!" Watanuki wailed, smacking her hand to her forehead. She was just about to run inside when Yuko grabbed her arm.

"Have no fear, I have all our stuff right here." Yuko held up the girl's backpack and unzipped it to show the girl her uniform. "Plus and excellent bottle of sake from our dear friend Wakana!" Yuko blushed in anticipation of her libation.

"Oh, great. More alcohol." Watanuki sighed. She grabbed her uniform and ran inside to change, apologizing over and over again to Tsurara for ruining one of her spares. The seer ran outside once she'd been forgiven to meet up with Yuko, Doumeki and Mokona. They looked like they were ready to leave and Watanuki was right there with them in the courtyard. The whole Nura household was out watching the small group, shouting for Watanuki to cook. The girl snapped back with oodles of venom that she was _never_ cooking for a demon mansion _ever_ again because they just abused her greatness! And then it happened, the portal between dimensions opened up again. Right in the pond.

"Into the pond!~" Yuko cheered, pointing towards the crack in the universe.

"No! I'm not going back in there!" Watanuki protested.

"Too bad!~" Yuko grabbed the girl's arms and leapt into the water and down through the dimensional portal. Doumeki followed close behind, gracefully leaping in behind the females.

"Have a safe trip!" Rikuo called, waving. The enenra Watanuki waved to her sister soul as they were swallowed up by the portal, looking just a little happier than before. Shouts of safety and good travels followed his from all the yokai in the Nura household and as the hole closed up, Watanuki couldn't help but smile even though she was pissed at Yuko. She'd made a lot of strange friends, and she'd never thought she'd be friends with even more yokai than her friends back home (because yokai for the most part were very hard to get along with). The Nura clan members were real yokai like the spirits back home but they liked to play tricks more than they liked to eat people and it was nice sometimes…nice not to be eaten by spirits and demons.

"Watanuki, you're smiling." Yuko teased, "Could it be you actually like traveling worlds?"

"No! I'm just glad we're going home now!"

"If you say so!~" Yuko laughed and finally let go of the girl's arm. They drifted along the path to the next world (home, hopefully, in Watanuki's case), the silence comforting until Mokona started demanding that Watanuki take out the sake that Wakana gave them for the trip. Then the seer hit the fur ball and told it to shut up which just opened a new can of Watanuki/Mokona cat fights that ended with Doumeki stealing the sake out of the seer's bag, opening it, taking a drink and then passing the bottle around to Yuko and Mokona while Watanuki tried to snatch it back before someone got drunk and got their lazy ass lost between dimensions.

A/N: An there you go! Be sure to tell me how I did! :3


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